The vast majority of medieval manuscript fragments found in the Law Library’s bindings are in Latin, but not all of them. In addition to the two Hebrew fragments elsewhere in this exhibit, there is a large, later fragment in what appears to be a form of German, and two very late fragments in French. All three of these fragments are awaiting definitive identification. One of the French fragments (perhaps a deed of sale for a piece of property?) is seen here being used as a “wrapper,” a means of protecting a printed text without applying a hard cover.

– Notes by Benjamin Yousey-Hindes, Stanford University

Larger versions of this and other images are available from the Medieval binding fragments gallery of the Rare Book Collection’s Flickr site. If you can provide additional information about the manuscript fragment displayed here, you are invited to send an email to .

“Reused, Rebound, Recovered: Medieval Manuscript Fragments in Law Book Bindings” is curated by Benjamin Yousey-Hindes and Mike Widener, and is on display through May 2010 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.